The Bachelor Glossary

B-roll

Dialogue-free shots to be later paired with voiceovers from ITMs. These can include but are not limited to walking, showering, free hug-giving, taxi-hailing, gazing out windows, meandering down beaches, leaning against barns, looking pensive, looking reflective, looking forlorn, looking lonely... (you get the idea)

Girl Chat

Staged—but never scripted—conversations between contestants where girls are seated in an open arrangement, such as side by side or in a U-shape. Producers often ask contestants, "Who wants to do a Girl Chat?" and in the early stages it's more volunteer-based; if a contestant doesn't want to participate they can usually say no. Later on it's no longer optional as naturally there are fewer girls to go around. Girl Chats are different than natural conversations caught by a zoomed-in, often unseen camera. (On The Bachelorette, Girl Chats are called Man Chats... don't ask me why they're not called Boy Chats or why Girl Chats aren't called Woman Chats. You watch The Bachelor; this feminist bone isn't worth your energy to pick.)

Frankenbiting

Different sound clips, (words or partial sentences, often from ITMs) cut and pasted together to form altered or entirely new sentences. When you see someone talking and then continue to hear their voice while the camera cuts to a shot of something else (oftentimes a clip of B-roll), it's very likely spliced-together audio, or Frankenbiting.

Hometown package

You know those intro videos at the beginning of the premiere? A producer and a small camera crew fly to most (but not all) contestants' current cities to film a slice of their life. Staged "at work" scenes and B-rolls ensue.

ITM

Abbreviation for "In The Moment". An interview held in a generic candle-lit room and conducted in present tense and using full sentences for versatile usage in editing. For example, a contestant might say, "I have never been on a date with five other girls." Her producer most likely asked her something along the lines of, "Have you ever been on a date with five other girls?" She must respond in full sentences and in present tense. Obviously you can get more creative than this example, and in my opinion the most honest and interesting results come from ITMs that feel like conversations rather than prompts, but you get the idea. As a contestant, ITMs take up much of your days and nights during filming, increasingly so as there are fewer and fewer of you.

Pick-up

An ITM done after the fact, sometimes weeks (in the case of the lead, I've heard of some occurring months) later. Contestants are required to wear the same clothes from the previous date/event in question (and are encouraged to do their hair/makeup the same). If the clothes have been shipped home already (as is often done with already-used clothes when traveling begins), the contestant is told to wear something generic, like a black top. Several pick-ups for different dates/events may be done in one ITM session.